Busy Bees

Y’all, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve written. Because, well, life. I think I probably have started the last umpteen posts that way, if I’d go back and read them. But seriously, life. Three busy kids and assistant teaching two days a week has a way of keeping me busy. We’re getting set to start building our new house, and finally getting settled into the rhythm of life living in our rent house. This week is our Spring Break, and I must admit that yesterday threw me for a loop. I had one fun outing planned for each day this week, but that was it. I mean, that was IT. I had nothing else planned. I didn’t really think about the weather forecast for rain several of our days off, or what that would do to all of our spirits. So they had done pretty much everything I had thought of for them to do including our outing for the day, and it was only 2pm. Seriously. I had pulled out worksheets, given them a craft project to make a Leprechaun trap from recycled materials, everything I could think of… I thought I might lose my mind if they kept asking me for more activities! Yesterday was ROUGH, y’all. Because I really don’t want to turn the tv on or let them have their kindles for the whole day… but they did end up with about three hours of screen time. (Which I’m not proud of, but honestly admitting!)

So this morning I decided to get smart. I pulled up my Pinterest boards and went through my sensory activity pins. And I was reminded of all the cool, fun things I used to do before I was too busy to make stuff for my kids. Or maybe lately I’m just too busy to care… hmm. Need some self reflection there. I determined we’d see what we had at home already, and then would grab a few things at Walmart to make our week a little more exciting. So I’m combining here some things we pulled out and did yesterday, some things we’re doing today, and then some links to some activities we’ll be doing later in the week.

Hopefully these ideas will keep your kiddos busy bees this spring – through rainy days, holidays, and any other “I’m BORED!” moments! (Although I did hear a great idea recently from an older, more experienced mom – she said if her kids ever say, “I’m BORED!” she gives them a rag and has them clean the baseboards. BRILLIANT!!! I plan to do that later in the week… maybe we’ll get some spring cleaning done around here, too!)

Activity Ideas

I wish I remembered where I originally saw this idea. This one came back to me when I started going through my supply box looking for liquid starch, and there I saw the yellow colander. This time around, I have two kiddos doing the activity, though, so I got out my good one too. You can get an inexpensive colander at Dollar Tree or Walmart. I love that yellow one because it’s fun for art too – you can trace around it to make a huge flower! lol. It’s as simple as the picture looks – give your child the colander and a bunch of pipe cleaners, and just see what they do! You’ll be amazed at what they come up with, and the fine motor practice is phenomenal.This one came straight from Crystal Underwood over at Growing A Jeweled Rose. I already had the pipettes – I ordered a big pack of them a long time ago off of Amazon. I’m no longer an affiliate with them, but here’s the link just to be helpful! They had a blast, and it kept them occupied for quite a while! (I presented them with 6 bowls of colored water (the colors of the rainbow) and then they each got a bowl of vegetable oil – for more info, check out her blog!)I’m all about rice sensory tubs – my kids LOVE them. They both absolutely love the feel of the rice between their fingers, and they beg for rice tubs frequently. I had a pink, red, and white rice mix set up for Valentine’s Day, so for this one, I just scooped out most of that mix, pulled out the Valentine’s add-ins that were in the tub, and dumped in some older bags I had already mixed of blue, green, and white, and then I colored a little orange and purple just to add more spring color. Then I hid foam letters that spell Happy, Easter, Becca, Grayson, and Elle. I made sure to write the words on a card and attach to the box since Gray doesn’t know how to spell. I also took some old foam egg and bunny stickers I got a couple years ago (also in that supply box with the colander…), peeled the backs off, and stuck them together. Then I hid the eggs and bunnies and the letters to make a fun treasure hunt of sorts!

More Activity Links To Check Out!

Here are some more links to things we’ll be doing later in the week (I won’t promise a blog post because, well, life!) And also, if you’re just looking for some fun time fillers, be sure to check out Doodle Art Alley – Samantha is an AMAZING artist and does some brilliant work. She shares TONS of it for FREE on her website – all of it is there just ready for you to download and print! I printed off a bunch of stuff today and not only did I color with the Bigs earlier, Becca and I enjoyed Cody joining us this evening after the Littles had gone to bed in coloring bookmarks! We’ll take them and laminate them later this week and then she can use some, and share some with friends when she goes back to school!

We also picked up at Walmart a new super fun Paint by Sticker book – the kids love those! If your kids haven’t tried them, I highly recommend them for fine motor and numeral recognition practice… and plus they are just downright fun! Here’s one from Amazon (again, no longer an affiliate, just sharing for your benefit!) that we have and the kids love!

So between all of this and a ton of wonderful books, fun outings planned to a couple of parks, and a plan to hit up Dollar Tree for some window clings, some more stickers, and hopefully an easy crossword puzzle book for Becca… I think we’ll survive the rest of the week, and be better set up for some successfully fun weekends in the future, as well! 🙂